Andrew Sullivan is bringing in some serious cash so far. It’s been just a day since he announced that he was taking The Dish rogue and leaving The Daily Beast to gamble on a support from a direct subscriber model, and he has already gotten a third of a million dollars and close to 12,000 paid subscribers, he wrote on his blog today.
“Basically, we’ve gotten a third of a million dollars in 24 hours, with close to 12,000 paid subscribers (at last count). On average, readers paid almost $8 more than we asked for,” Mr. Sullivan wrote this afternoon. “To say we’re thrilled would obscure the depth of our gratitude and relief.”
Yesterday, Mr. Sullivan asked for a pre-payment of $19.99 to become a subscriber–although he encouraged a larger contribution. So far, so good. Mr. Sullivan is “gob-smacked” by the support.
“If our goal was an annual income of somewhere around $900K (we erred on the safe side), we have gotten a third of the way there in 24 hours, which is why we’re all somewhat gob-smacked,” wrote Mr. Sullivan. “We feared it would take far longer for us to get that kind of support.”
$19.99 for a year of content isn’t that much. As Mr. Sullivan helpfully pointed out, it’s only about a nickel a day.
But it got us thinking. What are some of the print publications one could get delivered for that price (or less) per year?
- Harper’s Magazine is $16.97
- The Atlantic costs $14.95
- The National Review costs $19.95
- Vanity Fair is $15
- Vogue $19.99 for both print and digital, $14.99 for just print.
- Wired with tablet access is $19.99. Without tablet access (for the old-fashioned techie) is $14.99. Plus a free T-Shirt.
- Money is $14.95 for a year
But money isn’t everything. Andrew Sullivan’s “biased & balanced” The Dish will not have ads. And it is a chance to “[figure] out how to make journalism work in the new media world,” wrote Mr. Sullivan. And, as said, “it’s a pretty good investment.”
